Ghana Ready For Maritime Crisis

Shailaja A. LakshmiJuly 18, 2018

From the sinking of the Titanic to the current piracy phenomenon plaguing the world's oceans, Maritime challenges requires a conserted and collaborative global effort at maintaining safety of live and protection of property at sea.

To this the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) collaborated with its global partners from the European Uninon Gulf of Guinea Interregional Network (EU-GoGIN), and the Inter-Regional Coordination Centre (ICC) and organized a four-day crisis response training for security experts and players in the maritime sector.

Photo: Ghana Maritime AuthorityPhoto: Ghana Maritime Authority

Participants were drawn from the Ghana Maritime Authority, Ghana Army, Ghana Navy, Airforce, National Security, National Disaster Management Organisation and Ghana Immigration Service. The rest are Ghana Police Service (Marine Police), Custom Excise and Preventive Service ,the BNI, EPA,Defence, Interior, Fisheries, and the Ministry of Transport.

The objective of this exercise was to prepare the Ghana's Crisis Response Team to be able to thwart and combat any unforeseen incident on Ghanaian's maritime domain. The training also afforded among other things a perfect avenue to improve inter-agency cooperation in ensuring smooth maritime rescue activities.

Facilitators from the Gulf of Guinea Interregional Network took turns to update trainees on current trends in maritime safety and security measures to save life at sea while monitoring nefarious activities such as illegal bunkering and oil spillage.

Apart from building the capacity of the Ghanaian agencies to maintain a safe and secure maritime environment for socioeconomic development, the Crisis Response Training was designed to involve stakeholders in Ghana’s maritime industry to build interoperability.

During the training, a simulation exercise was held for the trainees to avert an illegal oil bunkering. To check the effectiveness and competence of the program, trainees were grouped into various units called cells according their technical expertise.

Addressing journalists at the closing ceremony at the Eastern Naval Base in Tema, Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Kwame Owusu indicated that Ghana is fully prepared to respond adequately to any maritime crisis. He added that the Authority was procuring patrol vessels and drones to ward off potential pirates and other threats on the Ghanaian waters.